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Creation Myth
The following describes the creation of the wider universe in the "Lya" campaign setting. It is modeled after the Forgotten Realms, featuring the same gods and similar stories, with a bit more of a streamlined story to fit with the campaign. Existence Coalesces A Great Battle rages between darkness and light. Before even the faintest sliver of reality, these forces of push and pull, ying and yang, are ever fighting. Their struggle has no beginning or end. It has never been created and it has never existed. All that exists and all that does not is but the Great Battle given form. The conflict is the fabric of all things, a battle that forms the very ideas of Good, Evil, Law, and Chaos. And within that conflict were born Shar and Selune. Shar was the Goddess of Darkness, Chaos, and Evil, while Selune was the Goddess of Light, Law, and Good, and at once these two gave the battle character, emotion, and meaning. Both fought for pride, believing that all of existence should be of them, and them alone. The two were in perfect equilibrium, identical in every way. But as stability is the essence of the Law, the equilibrium brought Selune to greater power, able to overtake Shar, creating what is known as "The First Day", when the equilibrium ended and time began. The Chaos brought about by Selune's overtaking will eventually give Shar an even greater power once more, but for now, Selune's light shines brighter than the powers of the dark. With darkness subdued, Selune's light spread out, creating existence in the form of the Astral and Etherial planes. Each plane represents the two pieces of existence, the mental and the physical. It is from these two planes of existence that all others originate from in some form, created and shaped by the Selune and Shar. Formation of the Heavens As Selune's first act after creating her universe she created a world of perfect beauty in the Astral Plane, Elysium. The plane is the heaven of well-earned rest, a place where tears of joy glisten on every cheek. It was everything she dreamed of her universe being. This concentration of beauty brought the first secondary god into existence, Goddess of Love and Beauty. Selune saw the creation of this new god as her daughter, the one to bask in the glory of her new land, and so named her Sune, after herself. With childlike wonder she reveled in the new world she was birthed in, and wished to one day spread this greatness to the entire universe. Selune was overjoyed that her daughter was happy, and that her world had been created, so much so that Lliira sprang from her heart as the Goddess of Joy. Lliira became the second daughter of Selune, who lived with Sune in Elysium and wished to spread her and her sister's happiness to all others in the world. Seeing her perfect world and family before her, Selune panicked. She was terrified that Shar may come back to dethrone her and corrupt her new realm and children, destroying all she'd done. And so she decided to create another world, Arborea, dedicated to protecting her world and fighting the evils of Shar. Selune created three gods to run the different portions of Arborea, the "Warriors Three." Helm, God of Protection, was made to protect Elysium, Arborea, and all that is good in the world. Torm, God of Courage and Self-Sacrifice, was made to wage war against Shar, and defeat her at any cost. Tyr, God of Justice, was made to make sure all actions done by Helm and Torm were within the ideals of Selune, and later took on the duty of enforcing those ideals on all other gods and beings. The three immediately began tending to their duties, and Selune was relieved knowing that her realm was safe. After creating so many new gods, Selune saw herself as a ruler, and as such needed a place to better govern her world. To solve this problem, she formed Mount Celestia, a world where she could reside and handle her new kingdom. To help rule by her side, Selune wanted to bring Tyr to Mount Celestia, but without being with the other Warriors Three, Selune realized that he would not be able to see their actions or judge them accordingly. To solve this problem she created the "Pantheon of the All-Knowing." Savras, God of Divination and Fate, was made to predict the possible paths the future might take. Oghma, God of Knowledge, was made to decipher which of those realities actually occur, to know everything about the present. Finally, Denier, God of Writing, was created to record the findings of Oghma, keeping a record of the past. Once the Pantheon of the All-Knowing was formed, Selune's court could see everything about the world, in the past, present, and potential futures, and what they immediately saw at the other side of the universe instilled fear into them all. Darkness Brews When Selune overtook Shar and The First Day began, Shar was cast out into the far reaches of the new Astral Plane, shunned by Selune for believing in evil and chaos. Misery overtook Shar, as her entire purpose, winning The Great Battle, had failed, and she had lost everything. Her despair consumed her, driving her mad and twisting the world around her, forming The Abyss. Each layer of The Abyss was created as Shar delved deeper into her despair, eventually expanding into infinite layers. Within these layers formed twisted, vile monsters, the Demons, bent on expanding their madness to the rest of the universe. These demons eventually found their way to the heart of The Abyss, where Shar wept. Hungry for divine power, the demons who found their way there feasted on the unsuspecting Shar, and gained powers to ascend themselves to Demon Lords. When the first bites were taken of the god, Shar shrieked as the first instance of pain had occurred in the universe, and from her blood formed Loviatar, Goddess of Pain. The blood pool then began to drip through every layer of The Abyss, forming what would later be known as The River Styx. Shar fled The Abyss, into the Astral Plane once more, feeling afraid and weak after being attacked unprovoked. Her emotions once again formed a plane of existence, Canceri, a prison plane that kept Shar within it, and everything else out. For a time, Shar was left alone to come to terms with her place in the world. Meanwhile, Loviatar sought to spread the same pain that had formed her throughout the universe, with the help of the Demon Lords at her command. However, the Demon Lords did not wish to help her. Many had already left the bottom of The Abyss for upper layers where there were more demons to torment, and the ones still left on the lower layers were too dumb or overcome by madness to listen to her commands. Loviatar rightly noted that The Abyss's influence was what forced these demons to be so simple minded or insane. To bring these demons out of their corrupted abyssal state, she used all her divine might to uproot the bottom nine layers of The Abyss and transport them to another location in the Astral Plane. The separation of planes was cataclysmic, and the tenth layer felt the brunt of the chaos. It splintered off at the point of separation, catapulting it into the Astral Sea. The land within was forever jumbled and shifting, creating the world of Limbo. However, Loviatar's plan was a success, as the layers she had broken off were no longer corrupted by Shar's laden misery in the abyss, and were now known as The Nine Hells. The previously corrupted demons and Demon Lords were now free of their minds, and transformed into the first devils and Archdevils. These devils were more cunning and organized than their demon counterparts, and by the influence of Loviatar, sought to spread pain and suffering as much as possible. The only problem was, there were none the devils could torture other than themselves or demons who reveled in it. A new plane was required, with innocent individuals to torture. Loviatar was too weak of a god to create an entirely new plane on her own, and needed the help of the self-imprisoned Shar. She could not think of a way to break her out of Canceri, as it was impenetrable inside and out. Loviatar turned to her Archdevils for help, and one rose up with an idea. However, this Archdevil knew that Loviatar needed his help, and so asked for something in return. She would give up some of her divine essence willingly to the Archdevil, and he would give her the way to free Shar. Wanting the answer as fast as possible, Loviatar agreed, and the first deal with a devil was made. The Archdevil in question gained even more divine energy, ascending to a Demi-God, and naming himself Asmodeus. Asmodeus kept up his side of the bargain however, and told Loviatar the key to freeing Shar. Shar was one of the most powerful beings in the universe, and so if she wished to stay protected, she willed it to be. Therefore if Loviatar wished to free her, she needed to convince Shar to free herself. Asmodeus had also noticed the blood of Shar had trailed into Canceri, leaving a path that a message could be sent across. He let Loviatar take that information how she would, and he began using his newfound power to seize control of The Nine Hells. Loviatar realized that Shar needed as much motivation as possible to free herself, and decided to send a false message down the River Styx. She bent down to the river, and whispered down the stream that Selune had accepted Shar, and that the two should rule together, side by side. As the divine message was sent through the muck, it gathered the last remaining divine energy left in the spilt blood, and the first lie formed into Cyric, God of Lies. Redemption and War Shar had spent a long time thinking to herself in Canceri, coming to terms with her loss in The Great Battle. She became severely depressed, coming the conclusion that her life was suffering in Canceri. From this misery formed Ilmater, God of Suffering. Ilmater was the suffering Shar felt manifested into the form of a man, someone who felt every bit of pain Shar had ever or will ever have, as well as any suffering due to Shar, directly or indirectly. Ilmater, after wallowing in his pain along with Shar, felt pity for the fallen god. Ilmater decided that, since he was made to feel all suffering, it was his burden alone to bear, and to aid all he could in preventing suffering of others. He comforted Shar in her dark times, helping her cope with her reality, and he was eventually successful. Shar came to accept her reality as being second to her sister, and realized that even if she did not have dominion over the world, she still was able to influence it in her own ways and live her own life. She didn't need to deal with Selune anymore, and could live a life in Canceri on her own. Just as Shar grew to accept her new life, a message arrived in the form of Cyric. He dazzlingly explained how he was a messenger of Selune, who had come to deliver an invitation for Shar to put aside their differences and join her in controlling the universe. Cyric filled her head with wistful tales of Selune's deep sorrow in throwing out her sister and hasty return to love, pulling at the heartstrings of both Shar and Ilmater. Shar became ecstatic, so much so that she broke out of Canceri along with Cyric and Ilmater, and immediately made her way to the center of the universe to meet Selune. Loviatar, however, intercepted the group and asked to speak with Cyric, telling him about her need for a plane of souls to torture. Manifest Destiny With Shar now on the council of ruling bodies over the universe, Selune's fear and Shar's worries were finally subsided. There were still lesser evil gods like Loviatar running around, but since they were much less powerful than her and Shar, let alone their powers combined, Selune was confident that any plots they could come up with could easily be taken care of. Shar had also finally gotten accepted by her sister, and given power to control the world. It was everything either of them could have ever asked for. And so, with each of them now working together, they did what they both always wished to do, create dozens of new planes, some big, some small, all to fulfill what they saw as the perfect world. Through their massive creation of different planes however, Selune discovered an area of her universe different from the rest: the Etherial plane. She had overlooked this large swath of her universe until now, as she had Shar to deal with, but now the area fascinated her. It seemed to radiate with a different energy that anything else she had seen, something different than both her and Shar, (which is no small feat when their essences pervade the entire universe.) Surprisingly, she was unable to cross into the area, nor was she able to influence the area at all. Shocked, she had Shar and the rest of the pantheon try to alter it, to no avail. Consulting Denier, she learned that this part of the universe was created to hold physical space, a place where existence is bound by limitations that cannot be changed through force of will alone. She learned that mental capabilities of willing things to existence did not work in the Etherial Plane, and due to all Gods being in part mental representations of Good, Evil, Law, and Chaos, they were unable to even enter the area. The Pantheon continued in their duties, but as time went on Selune slowly began going mad, trying to figure out how to access that single inaccessible part of her world. How could the world truly be perfection if part of it was closed off forever? Eventually however, she came up with an idea. She and Shar would pull at the area around the Etherial Plane until it was forced outside of the barrier and into the Astral Plane. Both Gods tried with their hardest might to push and pull the Etherial Plane, and with one great shove, sent it moving out past the barrier. However after getting about halfway out, the area then began to recede back in, crossing through to the other side, then cycling back once again. The entire plane was sent into an oscillating state going in and out of the astral and material plane. Upon trying to interact with this new oscillating plane, Shar and Selune discovered that it had split into three different planes, one existing at the peaks of the oscillation (the Feywild), another existing in the troughs of the oscillation (the Shadowfell), and the final still existing in the static center (the Material Plane). List of All Gods, How They Were Created, And Where They Reside Auril, Goddess of Winter - Azuth, God of Wizards - Bane, God of Tyranny - Beshaba, Goddess of Misfortune - Bhaal, God of Murder - Chauntea, Godess of Agriculture - Cyric, God of Lies - Formed from the deceitful message Loviatar sent to Shar through The River Styx Deneir, God of Writing - Created by Selune for the "Pantheon of the All-Knowing" to record the past Eldath, Goddess of Peace - Gond, God of Craft - Helm, God of Protection - One of the "Warriors Three", created by Selune to protect her realm Ilmater, God of Suffering and Endurance - Kelemvor, God of Death - Lathander, God of Birth and Renewal - Leira, Goddess of Illusion - Lliira, Goddess of Joy - Birthed from Selune's heart upon seeing Sune and Elysium Loviatar, Goddess of Pain - Formed from the blood of Shar as she was eaten by demons Malar, God of the Hunt - Mask, God of Thieves - Mielikki, Goddess of Forests - Milil, God of Poetry and Song - Myrkul, God of Death - Mystra, Goddess of Magic - Oghma, God of Knowledge - Created by Selune for the "Pantheon of the All-Knowing" to decipher the present Savras, God of Divination and Fate - Created by Selune for the "Pantheon of the All-Knowing" to see all possible futures Selune, Goddess of Light and the Moon - Formed to battle Shar from the beginning of the universe Shar, Goddess of Darkness and Loss - Formed to battle Selune from the beginning of the universe Silvanus, God of Wild Nature - Sune, Goddess of Love and Beauty - Formed from the concentration of beauty when Elysium was created - Elysium Talona, Goddess of Disease and Poison - Talos, God of Storms - Tempus, God of War - Torm, God of Courage and Self-Sacrifice - One of the "Warriors Three", created by Selune to seek out evil and destroy it Tymora, Goddess of Good Fortune - Tyr, God of Justice - One of the "Warriors Three", created as judge of what is right and wrong by Selune's word Umberlee, Goddess of the Sea - Formed when the god (BLANK) attempted to ascend Istashia to Godhood Waukeen, Goddess of Trade - List of All Planes and How They Were Created Positive Plane - The essence of Selune that permeates all. Negative Plane - The essence of Shar that permeates all. Far Realms - One of the many other universes created by The Great Battle, which manifested completely differently from our own. It birthed creatures and ideas beyond our universe's comprehension. Etherial Plane - The essence of Space, formed when Selune overtook Shar and began The First Day. Material Plane - Created in the static portion of the Etherial Plane, immune to oscillation Feywild - Created in the peaks of the Etherial Plane's oscillation Shadowfell - Created in the troughs of the Etherial Plane's oscillation Plane of Air - Plane of Water - Plane of Fire - Plane of Earth - Elemental Chaos - Astral Plane - The essence of Mind, formed when Selune overtook Shar and began The First Day. Elysium, the Blessed Fields of - (NG) The plane of perfect beauty, created by Selune as her first act in the universe The Beastlands, the Wilderness of - (NG, CG) Arborea, the Olympian Gates of - (CG) The war plane of good, created by Selune to defend against Shar Ysgard, the Heroic Domains of - (CN, CG) Limbo, the Ever-Changing Chaos of - (CN) The ever shifting wreckage of the tenth lowest layer of The Abyss as it was split off during the creation of The Nine Hells Pandemonium, the Windswept Depths of - (CN, CE) The Abyss, the Infinite Layers of - (CE) The plane of despair and horrors, created from Shar's decent into madness on The First Day Carceri, the Tarterian Depths of - (NE, CE) A prison plane created by Shar to lock herself away from any horrors that might attack her Hades, the Gray Waste of - (NE) Gehenna, the Bleak Eternity of - (NE, LG) The Nine Hells - (LE) The uncorrupted layers of The Abyss broken off by Loviatar to form the devils and Archdevils and more methodically spread pain Acheron, the Infinite Battlefield of - (LN, LE) Mechanus, the Clockwork Nirvana of - (LN) Arcadia, the Peaceable Kingdoms of - (LN, LG) Mount Celestia, the Seven Heavens of - (LG) Bytopia, the Twin Paradises of - (NG, LG)